Last December, reports that Audi had decided to put the once-canceled R8 e-tron electric sports car back in the production pipeline first surfaced. The reason? Improved battery technology. Today, during the brand's annual press conference, member of the board of management for technical development Ulrich Hackenburg confirmed that the R8 e-tron will be built.

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Hackenburg also said that the R8 e-tron is now capable of up to 450 kilometers of battery-powered range (about 280 miles). That's more than double the range of the original R8 e-tron, and it does indeed come from improvements to battery technology, as well as efficiency gains in the mechanical and electronic components of the car.

The bad news? The car will only be manufactured "upon customer request," likely meaning it will be an extremely limited-production, expensive bit of engineering. The good news? Audi plans to use the updated R8 e-tron to develop future technology that will be used in cars mere mortals might afford.

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Audi's limited-production R8 e-tron will be based on the next-generation R8 platform, likely putting its earliest arrival in lucky customer hands sometime in 2015.

For more on the R8 e-tron, check out our first drive of a prototype.

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